This invention generally relates to an apparatus for cutting elongated meat and, more particularly, to an apparatus for cutting elongated meat into a plurality of separated strips.
In the preparation of meat products, it is useful to process relatively larger portions of meat, such as a pre-manufactured hot-dog or sausage, into smaller portions or strips of meat. Such individual strips of meat can be used to form many meat products. For example, the individual strips of meat can be battered, breaded and fried to form a “fun” to eat French fry type of meat product.
Slicing meat into various relatively small portion of meat is a time consuming and tedious process when carried out by hand. Additionally, the size of the sliced portions will vary and is difficult to keep consistent and to produce a large quantity. More problematic is the inherent danger in using a knife or other sharp cutting device to manually slice a portion of meat, as the knife can easily slip from the meat and cut the hand and/or other parts of the person cutting the meat. Known automated meat cutters have difficulty centering the meat with respect to the cutting blades.
What is needed is an apparatus capable of safely, simply and rapidly processing portions of meat into smaller pieces of meat.